What is CVE-2018-6516?

CVE-2018-6516 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2018-06-14.

How severe is CVE-2018-6516?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Microsoft Windows

CVE-2018-6516

On Windows only, with a specifically crafted configuration file an attacker could get Puppet PE client tools (aka pe-client-tools) 16.4.x prior to 16.4.6, 17.3.x prior to 17.3.6, and 18.1.x prior to 18.1.2 to load arbitrary code with privilege escalation.

Published 2018-06-14 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.008 (56.4th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 56th percentile — 56.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.008 · newest: 0.008 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Microsoft Windows
Puppet Pe-Client-Tools — versions 16.4.x prior to 16.4.6, 17.3.x prior to 17.3.6, 18.1.x prior to 18.1.2
Puppet Enterprise Client Tools

References

puppet.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6516 (Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-6516?: CVE-2018-6516 is a high-severity vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2018-06-14.
How severe is CVE-2018-6516?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.